Cleaning a deep-fryer can easily become one of the most dreaded chores in any kitchen – but if you clean it regularly not only will it be easier, but the fryer itself will work better and last longer. In this video lesson, Chris walks you through every step to restore your fryer to showroom quality!

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Transcript:

Hi, I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply and in today’s episode we’re going to show you how to properly clean and maintain your fryer. Let’s start with the basic overview of the anatomy of a fryer. First, we have our fry baskets. Next, we have our fry basket hanger. This is removable and replaceable. Before we get to the basin let’s go to the bottom, open the door. Here we have the thermostat. Next, we have the safety valve. Beside that we have the pilot switch. Above all of that are your pilot orifices that go right into your burner valves, which are into the flumes of the basin of the cavity of the fryer. Then this big one right here is our drain valve. This extra piece right here is our drain valve extension so that way it goes into a bucket. Oftentimes you’re going to need a drain valve poking rod in case some of that soot gets clogged up in there, but before we go further we’ve also got some other components up top.

Your fryer screen which is in the basin just above the burners. Then if you notice right here we have our thermostat probe and our high limit probe. These are very sensitive and fragile and we have to be careful how we clean around these probes. Before you start doing any kind of cleaning on your fryer be sure that you’re equipped with the proper safety gear and equipment. Let’s do a run down. First, I got my nice trusty goggles for any kind of splash back or chemicals that get in your eyes, very key. Next, I got some nice Nitrile gloves to keep you from, again, some of those chemicals that boil out. Again, it protects you from the heat. Again, that oil in that basin’s still going to be very, very hot. Next, I got my burn guard apron. Again, to prevent from any kind of splash back of hot oil or grease getting onto my skin.

First, we have our drain valve extension. Next, we have a fryer coil brush to get in between your burners and deep down in that basin. Next, we have a basic scrub brush to get anything on the surface. Next, we have our drain valve poking rod in case it ever gets clogged in that drain. Last but not least, we have a nice thick walled stock pot to catch the hot oil once we drain it. Be sure that you don’t use anything like aluminum or definitely not plastic. That oil’s still going to be very hot and it’s going to melt. Be sure you’re using something thick and sturdy. All right, right before you’re about to drain and clean your fryer you’re going to want to make sure you turn the thermostat in the off position. You do not want these burners going as you’re trying to drain and clean this unit.

Once you turn off the thermostat this is also a great moment to go get your supplies and equipment for the cleaning and the draining process. The nice thing about that is it’s going to give the unit and the oil about fifteen, twenty minutes to start cooling down but it’s not going to get so cold to where the oil coagulates and is kind of difficult to drain through the assembly. Next, you’re going to want to put on your drain valve extension. Be sure that you have the opening facing down into your receptacle. Next, we can place our stock pot right underneath that and then very slowly we’re ready to start draining. Slowly start opening the valve. You’re going to see the flow starting to increase. Keep your hand on the valve control because this is a great way to control the flow of the oil so that way it just doesn’t dump out and splash hot oil all over you. Again, that is why we have the safety equipment though.

Once your old oil is done draining you can go ahead and close the valve. Then we can go ahead and remove our vessel to be discarded with our old oil or recycled. Now we can start scrubbing up top. The most important and critical part to cleaning the basin of your fryer unit is keeping in mind of these thermostatic probes. These are very fragile and very sensitive and if they get banged around too much they can easily break and then there’s bigger concerns and issues to deal with on your fryer unit. We’re going to grab our fryer coil cleaning brush and just be sure that you’re going down in between these flumes and giving a nice good scrub. Another good thing is this coil has an L, like a little elbow, so that way you can get underneath your burners and get the bottom edge of those as well. Again, when you go in the middle of this one, very, very careful that you don’t get too close to these probes.

Once you’ve got your burner flumes scrubbed off pretty well without banging around your probes we can go ahead and get our other brush to help scrub off other components, other areas of the basin. Keep in mind there may be some residual grease left on the walls and the bottom of the basin of the fryer unit. However, that’s actually a good thing because it acts as a lubricant to help scrub some of those more difficult areas. Now that we’ve scrubbed most of the residual residue away from the basin we’re ready to boil out the basin and get it extra clean. Two ways to do that, you can get fryer pucks or you can use your common grill degreaser. First thing first, be sure that your valve is closed and then we’re going to fill the basin halfway with hot water. Once it’s filled with hot water you can throw in one fryer boil out puck or you can add approximately one cup of your common degreaser that would fill approximately eight gallons of hot water.

Once that’s full go ahead and throw your thermostat up to three hundred and fifty degrees, and we’re going to want to boil that solution for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Once you’ve boiled that solution for about fifteen, twenty minutes be sure you turn your thermostat off and then now we can proceed to drain that solution like we did the hot oil from earlier. Once you’ve drained all your cleaning solution you’re going to want to be sure that you rinse out the basin one last time with just clean water to be sure there’s no residual chemicals before you put in your new batch of fryer grease. What you want to do is just keep your drain open and start rinsing it out with hot water, whether it comes from your hose or a giant bucket, and you can go ahead and just let it drain onto the floor drain or you can drain it into a basin, or a vessel, or a receptacle and discard into your basin sink.

Again, you can just let it go right on the floor and right into your floor drain. I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply, and that’s how you properly and safely clean your fryer. If you have any further questions please comment below or call our sales floor directly, and please subscribe.

“Love is an Open Door” Frozen Parody

I’ll warn you upfront, if you haven’t seen the movie Frozen and been privy enough to hear the addicting melodies, then this isn’t going to make much sense. But for those “Love is an Open Door” fans, we came up with our own parody – that’s right, DIY style. Make sure to open up this version for some background tunes, crank up your speakers, and get ready to sing along!

Don’t put up with time and efficiency lost due to a leaky pre-rinse! Most common leaks are easy to fix, and often don’t require you to replace more than one valve or washer. Learn more in this video how-to!

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Transcript

Hi, I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply. In today’s episode I’m going to show you common leaks to your pre-rinse assembly and how to troubleshoot and maintain them.

(music)

The most common areas for leaks on your pre-rinse would typically in a few common spots, either your hose itself, one of the two washers on either side of your handle, or somewhere around the face-plate itself. Here’s how we fix those.

The first leak you might see is actually coming from your stainless steel hose. If it’s leaking through this, just replace the hose itself. Your next spot might be somewhere around the handle whether it be at the bottom of the handle or the top of the handle. Keep in mind in both of these spots of the handle, there’s a washer. So if it’s leaking in one of these spots, you’re most likely going to replace that washer. So careful when unscrewing this pre-rinse because the washer just sits there, and there’s that washer, so if it’s leaking on that side, that’s the washer that’s going to need to be replaced.

Same thing applies to the bottom of the handle. If it was leaking there, go ahead and unscrew the bottom of the pre-rinse, right in there, that washer will need to be replaced.

Next common place gets a little bit tricky because this next leak, these next two leaks both involve the face-plate itself. If you look at this seam right here from the top, if it’s leaking through this top seam, we’re going to want to replace this bumper itself. Unscrew this face-plate, be sure not to lose the screw, so this entire rubber bumper will need to be replaced if it’s leaking from the top of that. Just put it on, get your Phillips head screw, pretty easy right there.

If you’ve identified that your leak is not coming from the top of the bumper and is actually coming through the water jets itself, you’re most likely going to need to replace this bonnet in here. Here’s how you do so. You’re going to remove the handle with a Phillips screwdriver, there are two Phillips screws so you’re going to need one to anchor the other on the other side. Once you remove that handle, go ahead and begin to unscrew this piece. If you notice, this valve is very similar to the valves that we had in our previous plumbing video of identifying faucet leaks. Keep in mind that your odds are that if it’s leaking out of the face of the spray nozzle itself, you’re most likely going to need to be replacing the seat washer right here, or the entire unit itself.

However, if it’s leaking from that valve stem assembly in the first place, it’s most likely this black washer. Again, inspect this whole unit and the integrity of the washers and valves in themselves and just replace the whole unit if need be.

I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply and that’s how you identify and troubleshoot common leaks to your pre-rinse assembly. Please comment below or if you have any other questions, contact our sales floor. Please subscribe to our weekly videos as well.

We already offer more than 25,000 parts to help you make the needed repairs on many of your food service equipment and products, but with the addition of 7,500 more parts, we’re starting to feel that a unity is in order. No more do-it-yourself (DIY), it’s time for us to do-it-together (DIT).

Learn more by giving our team a call. We can help you save money by knowing what parts you need to have on hand for quick repairs and when you should and shouldn’t call the repair technician. Join with us in a fix-it-relationship and learn more about our expanded parts section.

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Video Transcript:

Hi. I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Resturant Supply. In this video we’re going to show you how to troubleshoot some common setbacks and easy maintenance repair for your Rinnai Commercial Gas Rice Cooker.

The last common setback that you’re going to experience with your Rinnai Commercial Gas Rice Cooker is actually how the rice itself is cooked. Whether it comes out overcooked or undercooked, it really comes down to your thermal sensor itself. Again, that’s this piece in the center with the spring. The reason why this is so important is because this is run by an induction magnet that actually cooks your rice from the bottom of this pan. Always be sure first and foremost that this surface is spic and span clean as well as the top of your thermal sensor itself.

From there, if you see any type of wear and tear from the daily grind and it is clean but you see the impression of the magnet inside, that means your thermal sensor needs replacing anyway.

First, you’re going to turn the whole machine upside down. The screw right here, the setscrew. Take that right out. First thing first, is you’re going to want to release the lowest washer on the plunger arm of the thermal sensor from the operating arm of the base. What I did is I pushed down on the spring of the plunger on the thermal sensor itself to get this pin out of that hole.

From there, this plunger should just be able to detach right from the operating arm and it will sink right in to the thermal sensor itself because it is a magnet. Nest, we need to remove this tricky littler securing spring of your thermal hot sensor. Pretty much you see the hoop in the back, you’re going to push away from the center and it should just pop right out of that hole.

From there, you’re going to give it a little 90 degree twist so that way the base of it can come out the bottom. Take note of the positioning of the feet on your thermal sensor and where there are in relation to the housing basis. For instance, this one foot on the thermal sensor has an angle cut into its base of its foot. Take note of that because when replacing this later you’re going to want to line that one special foot up in the same direction that you just took that securing pin from and just slides right out from there.

This is the thermal sensor and this is pretty much what drives the cooking of the rice. The cooking of the rice has nothing to do with the amount of weight or the amount of water you have. Strictly, it has to do with heat. Thermal means heat, this is essentially a heat sensor. That’s how it’s going to regulate the temperature of the cooking of your rice.

This is your thermal sensor spring. Keep in mind, this is actually tapered so it means one circumference is a little bit smaller than the other circumference. Meaning, it’s only going to fit on your thermal sensor one way. Keep in mind if you put this on and this ring can get above it, you got it on backwards. You have the big end at the top. What we do want is the small end at the top. Now it fits flush, you can’t quite get it over that top lid.

Take note of the shape of the base of this one foot compared to the other two. This angle to foot is going to be positioned in the back corner where we release that securing spring. Actually, replacing this securing spring is much easier than it looks, much easier than it was coming out. Big thing to take note of is this little L-shape in the end. It needs to go through this hole and down and into this slit that is positioned next to that angled foot base that we’re speaking of earlier.

Then once that’s in place there we’re going to focus on pushing that little hoop all the way to that back little slot that we took it out of earlier. Once you get that spring hooked back up to the base in both spots, you get the plunger from the sensor again. Remember, we have this one slight pin that needs to go in that hole. However, do not just want to put it in there like this. That is not secure.

What you’re going to want to do is push that first washer down with that pin down on the spring and get that to sit right in here. Now, do you see how the arm as well as the plunger are securely together in between those washers? Now, it’s just a matter of rotating that pin right into the hole. It’s just a matter of ease to get this piece back screwed into place. There you have your thermal sensor replaced.

I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply and that’s how you diagnose and perform some common repairs to your Rinnai Gas Commercial Rice Cooker. Here’s to a better mise en place!

If you rely on a large capacity rice cooker, such as this model from Rinnai, you know that any time it spends broken, or not operating optimally, creates more problems and a loss of time. However, if the problem is with the pilot light – either not lighting at all, or going out on its own – there could be an easy way to quickly repair it and get your rice cooker back up and running.

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Video Transcript:

Hi. I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply.

In this video we’re going to show you how to trouble shoot some comment set backs and easy maintenance repair for your Rinnai Commercial Gas Rice Cooker.

Some tools that you may need are a phillips head screwdriver, an adjustable crescent wrench, needle nose pliers and optional, some pipe cleaner to clean out your tubing. Often can be found in arts and crafts supply stores.

The first common set back to troubleshoot for your Rinnai Commercial Gas Rice Cooker is there’s no flame or the pilot light won’t light itself.

First thing to check is your quick disconnect gasoline all the way up to your Rinnai Gas Cooker.

Remember that this valve needs to be parallel or in line for it being turned on. Perpendicular is turned off. The first thing to check.

From there, if it’s still not lighting and your gas is being hooked up to the machine itself, you’re most likely looking at a clogged pilot orifice that we need to replace. We’ll do that next.

The first thing you need to do is click your ignition button a couple of times. You shouldn’t have to do this more than 3 times and you should see a small flame behind your pilot housing right underneath here.

If your rice cooker is getting gas but your pilot light won’t stay lit, your problem is most likely build up in the pilot orifice which supplies gas to the pilot itself.

If your pilot lights, hold your ignition switch down for about 30 seconds and once you release it, if the pilot goes out, most likely your problem is the thermocouple.

The thermocouple is the safety device that ensures the pilot light is lit before the machine actually supplies causing gas to the burners.

If your thermocouple is bad, it will prevent the pilot and the burners from staying lit.

Once you identify good and correct has line connection, the next thing to do is actually tackle and repair and maintain your pilot orifice.

Before you perform any kind of maintenance or repairs to your equipment, be sure that it is always off and disconnected from any gas line.

Then from here, we see there’s 1 little screw holing on the drip pan. We’re going to go ahead and unscrew that and the drip pan slides right off.

The pilot orifice is located right behind this brass knot which is attached to this aluminum gas tube which is very fragile.

First, we’re going to take this clip on the thermocouple and undo this, set that aside. Just bend your thermocouples out of the way.

From here we’re going to see a screw and the pilot assembly that we need to undo. You can go ahead and set that aside.

From there, you can just bend this slightly out of the way.

When removing this brass knot to get access o your pilot orifice, keep in mind and remember that this aluminum has tubing is very fragile and we’re going to want to twist off the pilot assembly while holding that brass knot still.

This little brass tip right here is your pilot orifice. Often times in this little tube, in the pilot assembly can get clogged and that’s where we need our pipe cleaner.

Just take your pipe cleaner, stick it right down the tube and just kind of scrub it out.

This is a .25 pilot orifice. That number refers to the size of this little pin prick whole on the back and this is not interchangeable with any other orifice. Be sure you have the .25 orifice for your pilot assembly.

All right. Once we get our .25 pilot orifice into our pilot assembly, just a matter of screwing this back on in place to this aluminum coil. Again this aluminum coil is fragile so we don’t want to actually twist the knot, just want to get the pilot assembly finger tight, then make sure it’s nice and snuggles with our wrench holding on to that knot.

From there we can go ahead and place this back down on our housing for our pilot assembly. An easy way to get this screw back in, you just go ahead and put the screw on the housing itself and aim with that. And that’s how you replace your pilot orifice.

And then be sure that we put our thermocouple back into its place and the clip. Be sure when you’re using your clip, the hoop is for your finger to hold, to push it back in place.

The single sided end is for you to actually brace the thermocouple in.

If you recognize that you pilot light is igniting but it won’t stay lit, what you’re looking at is your thermocouple itself, needs replacing.

Again remember, this little clip here was for the thermocouple, take that out. We got a little screw down here that attaches to the thermocouple to the gas valve and then from there, your going to have to try and get the plastic clip with some needle nose pliers. This is probably the most tricky part just because the tight area to get to.

Take a look at the clip on this thermocouple. It just slides right into place and it clicks and once it clicks its locked itself into place.

To get it out, you’re always getting the needle nose pliers right on these ends and just squeezing it and pulling it right out.

Your new thermocouple probably come pretty straight. However, you’ll have to bend the coils as need be.

First thing first is you probably want to get that plastic clip to secure in first, then from there we can bend everything else around as need be and as necessary to get thermocouple back into place.

Again, getting that little screw on the thermocouple. It might be kind of hard to aim. You can go ahead and put it in the cable first then just point it right down into the hole.

And last but not least, our thermocouple clip. Again, the single sided non-looped end goes in the back, the hoop goes over the couple and this clamps right back into place.

And that’s how you replace your thermocouple.

I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply and that’s how you diagnose and perform some common repairs to your Rinnai Commercial Gas Rice Cooker. Cheers to a better mise en place!

Whether a Vitamix blender is crucial to your business, or if you simply like the ease and efficiency of mixing they provide, you know that keeping sharp blades is key to good operation. If your blades begin to dull, you can simply replace the blade assembly itself, without having to go out and but an entire new container (unless the container is worn out as well!). For this process, you will need a Vitamix Retainer Wrench.

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Video Transcript:

Hi, I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply. In today’s episode I’m going to show you how to change the blade assembly in your Vitamix prep container.

Pretty much what we have here is our retainer nut wrench by Vitamix; unique for its blade assembly replacements. As well as, we have a 64 ounce Vita prep container here. First you’re going to take off the lid as that’s not needed. Turn your container upside down. The nice thing is this wrench, that hole is going to fit right over your drive socket. It only fits one way and from there lefty loosey.

You want to be careful with those blades because they might be sharp still. I’m using a rag to grab a hold of that blade. That nut comes off and your blade assembly should just pop right out. Go ahead and take that old one. We can discard that. Now you have your empty container and your nut.

Now we’re going to get our new blade assembly. You’ll notice on the blade assembly there are two flat sides. That’s going to correspond with the two flat sides on the bottom of your container. Again, be careful just using a rag here. You could also use a cut glove, the Chain Mail Steel Mesh. Pretty much that way you don’t create any nicks on your fingers as you’re trying to replace this. In there it should just snap in place. Get our retaining nut. You can go ahead and screw that on finger tight for the time being.

Then get our retainer nut wrench by Vitamix again. We’ll tighten this piece back into place. There you have it, replacing the blade assembly on your Vitamix container.

I’m Chris Tavano from Tundra Restaurant Supply. That’s how you change your Vitamix blade assembly. Join us again next time.

Having the door to a piece of kitchen equipment swinging open the wrong direction can be very inconvenient, and can make the item difficult to clean or even to use. Luckily, most manufacturers make the door swing on their equipment reversible. Follow these easy steps to reverse yours and make your kitchen more accessible!

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Transcript

Hi. I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply. In today’s episode, I’m going to show you how to reverse the swing on your door hinge for your equipment.

Do you ever experience that the layout of your kitchen hinders the accessibility of your equipment? For instance, if your fryer was up against a wall, it might be kind of difficult to open this door all the way. Keep in mind, most equipment doors are made to reverse the swing on it’s hinge.

Here, I’ll show you on this Fry Master fryer. May not be the most esthetically pleasing thing as this logo is going to be upside down, but hey, it’s going to be functional and a little bit more operable for you in your layout.

First, we’re going to take off the handle to the door. Pretty easy … two phillips head screws. Next we’re actually going to take the door off of the hinge itself. If you look down at the bottom, you’ll see a spring loaded set pin. From there, we just push it in, lift it up, and we can get it to slide out.

Next, you’re going to want to unscrew the two screws on the bottom of this hinge plate. Lefty loosy. Be sure you attached our hinge plate.

Next we’ve just got to remove the door magnet itself. It’s on a plastic clip. Push on the bottom upward. You should be able to slide it and push it out.

The mounting can be a little bit difficult because of this push clip. Once you get those pushed in it should be able to slide out quite easily. Now that we’ve got our hinge plate and our door magnet switched on to the new correct side, it’s a matter of putting our door back into it’s place with it’s spring loaded set pins. So you don’t crush your fingers, it might be kind of easy to slide this top set pin in with a flat head screw driver.

There you go. Reverse the swing. Like I said, not the most esthetically pleasing with our name plate at the bottom and upside down, but functional none the less.

Last but not least, reattaching our handle back to the opposing side that we took it off from. There you have it. That’s how you reverse the swing on your hinge.

Performing regular preventative maintenance on your refrigerator can increase the efficiency of the unit, as well as save you expensive repairs down the line. Chris Tavano walks you through three easy parts to check to make sure that your refrigerator is in good working order.

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Transcript

Hi, I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply. In today’s episode, I’m going to help you troubleshoot a couple of common issues with refrigeration units.

Two common issues we see with refrigeration units is they’re not getting up to temperature correctly, or down to temperature, cooling in an effective manner. Or the compressor’s just constantly running and burning out. So one issue could very well be that you have an ice buildup on your coils.

As well, you notice that these grates are very thin aluminum vents. A lot of times, what can happen is since these are so fragile and aluminum, they can just fold in right on their selves, and what can very well happen is this can easily get kicked, a pan can fall into this, and at the same time, since they are so fragile and easy to bend, that they’ll just bend closed shut on themselves, and there you will not get any airflow, restricting your compressor to put your coolant at the right temperature range for your refrigeration unit.

So those are two big things that you can do preventively here in the compressor area, so that way your machine lasts a little bit longer. And last but not least, always check your door gaskets. A lot of times, these can start to deteriorate, break down, come off from the glue on the actual aluminum itself. A lot of times, this is where you’re going to get air flow leakage, and your compressor’s going to be constantly running to keep the machine at its refrigerant temperature.

At the same time, the compressor’s going to be working overload, because there’s a constant leak, and the compressor’s going to be running much longer than what it needs to be. So always be sure your gaskets are in good shape, and you replace them accordingly. If you need some tips on how to replace them, go ahead and check out our other video about replacing refrigerant gaskets.

I’m Chris Tavano for Tundra Restaurant Supply. That’s how you perform some very easy preventative maintenance on your refrigeration units. Until next time!